Away and Back
by Friday Knight
Summary: A strange man appears on the deck of the Going Sunny, claiming that he has been stuck on an island for the past five months, but will the crew learn of his past before the incident.


"_Yohohoho, yohohoho,_" Could be heard on the deck of the large pirate ship. It was currently night time in the New World, and a thick layer of fog had surrounded the ship, which had rolled in after a small storm. Most of its occupants were asleep, minus two. One was the musician of the ship, currently passing time while he was on watch for any nearby pirate ships, the other, was the ships archaeologist, or assassin, depending on her mood.

The archaeologist was lying in her bed, reading a book she had gotten recently at an Island by the name of Dressrossa, listening to the musicians song. She was fond of her ship mates, even if she wasn't aware of who was on watch that night she could always tell. The archaeologist, whose name is Nico Robin, but prefers to be known as Robin, was a very observant woman, and had noticed that whenever her nakama were on watch they each had different pastime, all of which made a noticeable sound.

The crew's musician sings and is singing his favourite song. The swordsman, made a rhythmic chink, with his weights whenever he swung them. Their Sniper and Shipwright both had similar tells, the tinkering of random gadgets either had invented, but the Sniper, whenever he was hammering away, could be heard humming a song about himself as a SogeKing (Sniper King) and the Shipwrights mechanical bits could be heard whirring as he moved about. The Chef could be heard chopping up vegetables or fruit for tomorrow's meal, with the occasional draw of breath because of his cigarette. The Doctor would often use his medical tools to make medicine in the interest of the crew, or treating someone who had been wounded. The Captain rarely ever did watch, but when he did no one got any sleep because of his constant meddling of the ships instruments, which the Navigator often gave him hell for, her tell was often the scratching of quill on parchment, making maps of the recent islands.

It was because of these tells, that Robin noticed something odd with the Musicians song. It appeared he was, accompanied. She could tell that it wasn't the Swordsman or Chef, because they wouldn't join in without a bit of Sake first. The navigator happened to be sleeping a bed across from her, so that ruled out her too. The Captain was out cold, so it must have been the Sniper, as the Doctors voice would be too quiet to carry down. Robin quietly got out of bed, bringing her book with her, to see why their Sniper was up and singing.

Once she opened the door to the women's room she could see the outline of two figures at the bow of the ship, just in front of the Lion head piece. Although it was quite a distance, she could tell instantly that it wasn't whom she expected it to be. The muscle structure was completely different to that of the Snipers, wiry frame, at least in comparison to the others. The figure was a good bit taller than the Sniper too, only a bit below the Musicians shoulder.

Normally, she would use her powers to subdue this apparent intruder, but the problem was, they weren't causing any trouble. They only appeared to be singing along with Brook, the Musician, and that wasn't truly the sign of someone who wishes to cause trouble. She began to walk quietly towards them, taking in the intruders frame and clothing, he appeared to be male, and wore what looked like trousers similar to Sanji, the Cooks, only they were a light blue. He wore a dark green shirt, that more than likely had some form of symbol on the front. But what confused Robin the most, was what he wore around his neck. It appeared to be an extremely short scarf, covering everything under his nose.

She couldn't make out his hair in the night, but it seemed to have the same style as Luffy's, the Captain. Even though he was singing along, he wasn't singing the same as the last time her crew had sang together, which was loud, boisterous and with odd tunes. He was singing along gently, trying not to wake anyone, well he succeeded in not waking anyone, but not no one noticing.

To his right was Brook, playing his violin with amazing expertise, which was only of slight surprise to Robin, as she had assumed he would be playing his odd fish shaped guitar. Instead of interrupting, she decided to just sit against the railing, waiting for them to finish. As they were nearing the end, Robin sat back up, expecting them to talk to each other about the night, instead, the intruder began with something different.

"I wouldn't say it's very polite to sneak up on people would you?" He directed his question towards Brook, who replied, "Unless it's a woman who would show me their panties, then I would have no problem." With that they turned around and faced Robin. "Ohoho, good evening Robin-san, may I see your panties." Brook said, with a completely regular tone, "No Brook you may not, but you may tell me about your friend here." She replied, gesturing towards the other person on the bow.

"Oh, I know nothing about him. Yohohoho." Brook answered laughing "He simply appeared during my song and joined in." Gesturing a bony hand towards him, allowing him to nod his head in a more-or-less fashion. "Brook, you may take your rest, I wish to have watch tonight." She said with a tone that warned him not to refuse. "Hai, Robin-san." With that he went off towards the boys sleeping quarters.

As soon as the door closed Robin stared at the intruder and pulled up a chair. "You may wish to do the same, as this will be a long night for you." She gestured to a red striped chair. "No thank you, I quite like standing." He replied, crossing his arms behind his back, grabbing each elbow with the opposite hand. "Very well then, why are you here?" She decided she had better cut to the chase, rather than beat around the bush.

"I have no idea." He replied. Robin blinked. "What do you mean you have no idea. "I mean, I have no hidden motive for coming here, I was stuck on a tiny island for five months, and no one could rescue me or notice me because of the fog." He finished with a tone of sadness. "What made you come onto our both then?" Robin didn't believe him, for the most part.

"I heard sound, there's nothing in particular about your ship or crew, I would assume, that made me come here especially." He said, Robin was having a rather hard time believing him, as whenever she tried to figure out whether or not someone was lying, she usually relied on twitches of the mouth, and other such things, but now, his mouth could not be seen.

"Why do you wear that?" Robin asked. He shuffled uncomfortably, "I-I like wearing it," Now this, Robin picked up on, but before she could question him further he continued "But I don't like talking about it." Robin could hear the same tone of voice she had whenever she talked about her past, so she left it alone, and considered a better question.

"What is your name?" The intruder blinked, he had spent five months alone, it had been long since anyone had asked him that "Dara." Although she couldn't see it, she felt like Dara was smiling under that scarf. "Well Dara, normally I would go to bed, but seeing as I have given Brook the night off it would appear I'm stuck with you," she teased "So, what should we do?"

"Could you tell me about your crew?" Robin chuckled at this, was he as oblivious as Luffy, or just ignoring her. "Well, where do you wish to start?" Dara looked thoughtful for a moment, then said "Brook." "Very well then, Brook is a skeleton." Robin chuckled "I figured out that much." Dara retorted with a cheerful tone. "When he was alive, he ate a Revive-Revive fruit, but it took him so long to find his body that all the skin had fallen off."

"Now, he wants to make it to Reverse Mountain at the entrance of the grand line in order to meet up with a friend he made a promise to." Dara nodded, and was about to ask about herself, before Robin cut in. "Now, what about you." Robin crossed her legs and leaned forward. "I already told you my story, I was stuck on that Island." Dara replied, pointing towards the west, Robin followed his finger, and could just barely make out a single palm tree on a small patch of land, it looked like those islands in the story books where someone is stranded.

Robin shook her head, "I meant before you ended up on that island." It looked as though Daras eyes had flashed a bright colour when she mentioned it, but she believed otherwise. "I was travelling in a small boat when I ended up there, it was an extremely violent storm, and I fell out of the boat, I thought I'd drown, but I ended up there, and with the fog bank I couldn't tell when any ships were passing, it was only when I heard him singing that I followed it."

Robin nodded her head, and then stood upright, brushing her purple nightgown. "Well, fortunately my crew is very welcoming, so I would assume you should be safe, unless Kenshi-san slices you up, and then Cook-san serves you for dinner." Robin chuckled sadistically, but looked disappointed when she saw no reaction on Daras face. He nodded and then asked "Does this mean you're going to stay up all night to keep an eye on me?"

"Yes," she replied, "so I had best get some coffee." She began to turn towards the deck of the ship, but was stopped when Dara offered "I could get you some instead, I mean, I kind of owe you for not attacking me." He rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. Robin smiled and allowed him to do so. He was just at the edge of the stairs to go up when he turned around to ask "Umm," "Far left door, second level." Robin answered, knowing what he was going to ask "Thank you." And he went inside said door.

Inside the door was a spotless kitchen, obviously cleaned earlier that day, with nine chairs surrounding a long table. There was a counter between the cooking area and the table, allowing food to be placed there while waiting to be served. It was then Dara realised, he didn't know where the coffee was. He could see a pot beside the wall with a small separate stove for it only. He figured it would be best to turn it on, and allow it to boil while looking for the coffee. He did so, finding a small match box beside the pot, and using it to ignite the flame.

He then began checking the above presses for coffee. He was surprised by how well stocked the ship was, there were several different spices and ingredients for food, but no coffee. He looked through the other presses, but still could find nothing, he found a bag of tea leaves though, he figured he should ask Robin whether or not she would mind tea. As he headed for the door, he stopped dead, as he heard footsteps approaching.

They were definitely not Robin's feet as they sounded much too heavy for a woman's foot. He didn't know what to do so he just hid in a corner standing upright, preparing to leave if he was required to fight. The door creaked open, and in walked, a young boy, looking like he was in his early twenties, wearing a straw hat and a striped pair of sleeping boxers. He yawned and scratched his rear, mumbling nothings, he turned his head towards the fridge and began walking towards it. He jiggled the handle but it wouldn't open, he looked as though he might pull the entire door off, had he not froze, and turned his head in the direction of Dara.

"Hi." Dara gave a small wave. The boy in the straw hat nodded back and asked "Can you help me open this, I want some meat." Dara was surprised at the request but helped him none the less. "We have to be quiet otherwise Sanji will come up and hit me." He whispered and began pulling at the door handle once more. Dara stepped closer and began pulling at the handle with him, but it was to no avail. "Stupid fridge, why won't you open." He hissed. Dara noticed a small lock at the very bottom, and held a hand up to tell the boy to stop, the boy looked at his hand, and then followed his finger as it was pointed down to the lock.

The boy smiled and began pulling at said lock, only to look more frustrated, Dara, meanwhile, was rummaging through his pockets. He pulled out a small pin, and tapped the boy on the shoulder. He looked at it in confusion, wondering what the things that Nami puts in her hair could do. Dara bent down and stuck the hair pin in the lock, wiggled it around a bit and then, a small click could be heard, and the lock fell off. Dara and the boy looked at each other, and the boy's face broke into a large grin.

Before he could talk to the boy with the grin on his face, it turned to one of horror. Dara was confused, until he turned around, and saw a man in a pair of white boxers and white vest with blonde hair and curly eyebrow standing over them. They both stood up immediately, he assumed this must be Sanji, as his one eye that was not covered with blonde hair was full of fury. "Luffy," he began calmly "WHY THE HELL WERE YOU AT THE FRIDGE!" he shouted, so much for the calm demeanour. Dara began to slowly edge away, not wanting to be involved, but Sanji noticed him.

"And you." His voice had calmed down a bit "Why are you here and why were you helping him?" "He asked me to and I was making coffee." Dara responded without batting an eye. This caught Sanji off guard. "Why were you making coffee?" "He was doing a favour for me, Sanji-san." The light flickered on and in the doorway stood Robin.

"Robin-Chwan!" Sanji exclaimed, his body going wavy and a heart forming in his eye. "I had to take over Brooks shift because I could not allow him to stay here while we were asleep." She ended with a small smile, that sent Sanji into an even greater love mood. "That's ok Robin-Chwan!" He lost his demeanour immediately as he whacked Luffy over the head with his foot "But it's not ok for him, you shouldn't be having midnight snacks, do you know how hard it is to feed you in the day?"

Dara couldn't help but find the situation amusing, and let out a small chuckle, at the same time Robin did, which caused Sanji to whirl around to face him "Don't think I'm not angry at you for helping him," he was about to give him a light kick, but before he could he disappeared and reappeared behind Robin. "That doesn't mean you have to hit me!" He yelled, peeking out from behind Robin. "How did you do that?" Sanji asked. "Do what? I just ran away." Dara answered.

"Ugg, why is everyone up so early?" A female voice could be heard from the deck below, causing Sanji to run out in love mode once more "Sorry Nami-san, Luffy tried to get the fridge open again." He called waving at her. He then noticed what she was wearing, which gave him a nose bleed and sent him to the floor. She happened to be wearing a see through orange nightie with bra and pants underneath. "Dammit, Chopper!" Nami called. There was a small rustling behind a door, and then a small person with a hat that was too big for his head came out rubbing his eyes. "What Nami, it's so early." Dara wondered why they had someone so young in their crew.

"Sanji had another nosebleed." She said waving her hand as if this was a regular thing. Chopper went wide eyed, and then groaned, "Were almost out of blood for Sanji, and it's too late to get some from another Island." Dara realised what was going on and spoke up "I could help, I think." This caused both Nami and Chopper to shriek and scream "WHO ARE YOU!"

"Wait, did you say you could help?" Chopper said, regaining his composure from the scream "I think so." Dara replied. "Are you blood type F?" "No, but I can still help." Dara replied once more. "How?" Chopper asked. Dara knelt down beside Sanji's smiling, unconscious form, and whispered the words. "Hanarete no, Chi." After he had said those words, Sanji's blood began to renter his nose, causing him to stir awake. Dara stood back and allowed him to rise.

"Ugh, what happened?" His eyes fell on Dara, who he remembered as an intruder on their ship, and assumed it was him. "What did you do!" He lifted up his leg and brought it down, onto thin air. "Huh?" He blinked "Hey, where'd he go? Luffy drawled as he emerged from the door of the kitchen, rubbing his head where Sanji kicked him.

"Why are you always trying to hit me!?" A voice shouted. The crew turned and was shocked to see Dara standing upon the mast running through the crow's nest. "How did you get up there!?" Luffy shouted up. They blinked, and he was gone. "Like this." A voice came from beside Luffy. He turned to see Dara standing beside him, a smile beneath his scarf.

"COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL." He shouted, amazed at this. "Hey do you wanna-" Before he could his sentence he was hit over the head by Sanji who hissed "We already have nine. We don't need anyone else." "But I want ten, and he soooooo cooooool." Luffy murmured back, being crushed under Sanji's foot.

"What's with your head?" Dara asked, bending down and staring at Luffy's head, which was extending outwards due to the force of Sanji's foot and the solidness of the wooden floor boards. Sanji released his head and it shot up staring at Dara. "I'm a rubber man." He told him, stretching his cheek for emphasis.

"Cool. Are all of you Devil Fruit users?" He asked. "Nah, only me Robin, Brook and Chopper." Dara blinked "Whose Chopper?" said little reindeer man froze up. "Oh no!" He thought, "He wants to know about me, what if that means he wants to hurt me." He began panicking, but stopped once he noticed he was lifted off the ground. "So you're Chopper," A voice came from behind him, he felt hands on his horns and was turned round to face Dara. He then, promptly began to scream.

"AAAAAAAHHHHH. LUFFY, HELP." "For a reindeer you sure make a lot of noise." Dara yelled over Chopper "Ehh?" Chopper blinked. "What did you call me?" He asked "A reindeer." Dara replied. "You don't think I'm a tanuki?" He asked "I don't know many tanuki with horns." He smirked beneath his scarf. "Shut up asshole, knowning what I am won't make me happy." He performed a small dance while still being held by Dara.

Dara let him down and he ran behind Nami, holding her leg. Dara followed the leg upwards and found himself face to face with the red haired navigator. He blinked "Sorrow?" "What?" Nami asked, unsure of what he meant. "Nothing, sorry." He waved his hand away. "The only reason you're still alive is because Robin trust's you, and she doesn't hand out her trust lightly." She jabbed a finger at him. "Very well." He nodded, and the ship was left in silence.

"Now what?" Dara asked? Everyone else looked around, and then to the sky. "Everyone, back to bed, except whoevers on watch, and you." Nami called, and jabbed a finger at Dara, who nodded. After everyone had gone back into their respective rooms, it was just Robin and Dara left on deck once again.

"I'm sorry I couldn't get that coffee you wanted." Dara apologised to Robin. "Oh don't worry, I made some myself while you were introducing yourself." She took a sip of said coffee out of a mug. "Luffy said you had a Devil Fruit, what is it?" He questioned. Robin smiled and Dara felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned his head to see what it was, and noticed it was a very feminine hand waving at him.

"One minute please, I am talking with my friend Robin." He turned back to Robin, who had a strange look on her face, as if she was confused whether or not he was being serious, or just messing with her. "You were saying." Dara asked. "That's my power." Robin replied, still unsure whether or not he was playing one of Usopps favoured pranks.

"Oh, you can make hands appear from other places?" He turned back to the hand that was sprouting out of his back. "Nice to meet you Robin's hand." He then shook the hand the turned back to Robin, who was giggling. "You are an odd one aren't you."

"I am merely a good man." He stated. For the second time, Robin believed he saw his eyes flash again. "If you wished I could help you sleep." Dara told Robin, who didn't believe him. "How so?" She questioned, playing along with his game. "Like this." He stood in front of Robin and placed a hand on his chest "Hanarete no, neru." A small purple aura came from Dara's chest, "What is that?" Robin asked hesitantly. "

"It's sleep, or tiredness I suppose." He then sent the aura towards Robin, who gasped as it was absorbed into her chest. She instantly felt lightheaded. "You have to find some way to stay awake for five months." Dara chuckled, but before Robin could respond she fell into a deep slumber. "Sorry Robin, figured it'd be the best for you." He turned to the head piece of the boat, and climbed upon it, standing where Luffy would normally sit. He took a small picture out of his pocket, and then put it back. Soon after tears began streaming down his face.


End file.
